LAS VEGAS — Josh Berry clinched his first NASCAR Cup Series victory on Sunday, March 16, 2025, dominating the Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The 33-year-old driver for Wood Brothers Racing outdueled Daniel Suárez after a restart with 19 laps remaining, pulling away to win by 1.358 seconds in a race marked by nine cautions and 32 lead changes among 13 drivers.
Berry’s triumph in the No. 21 Ford came at a track where he previously won twice in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. He became the fourth consecutive Wood Brothers driver to secure his first Cup win in the iconic car, following Harrison Burton’s milestone 100th team victory in 2024. The race, spanning 267 laps on the 1.5-mile oval, averaged 124.368 mph over 3 hours, 13 minutes, and 13 seconds.
“Oh, man, I don’t even know what to think,” Berry said after exiting his car. “Just awesome. I love this track. Las Vegas has been so good to me. So many great moments here.” He credited crew chief Miles Stanley and the Wood Brothers team, adding, “Such a battle with Daniel there at the end, beating and banging on a mile-and-a-half—crazy! Whoever was going to get out front was probably going to win.”
The decisive moment came on Lap 249 when Berry and Suárez restarted side-by-side. Suárez held the lead until Lap 252, when Berry edged ahead. After a near tie on Lap 253, Berry cleared Suárez on Lap 254 and extended his lead in clean air. Suárez, driving the No. 99 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet, finished second but lamented a short-run disadvantage. “We did everything right,” Suárez said. “The team did an amazing job on the strategy, pit stops. … Unfortunately, I feel like that’s why we lost the race, just a little bit too much contact [with bumps] in [Turns] 1 and 2.”
A Lap 195 caution, triggered by a seven-car pileup on the backstretch, shifted the race’s momentum. Stage 2 winner Kyle Larson, who led 61 laps, had pitted under green on Lap 197 and restarted 18th, finishing ninth. Berry capitalized, restarting seventh on Lap 201 and taking the lead on Lap 234 before a final caution on Lap 243—caused by Noah Gragson’s crash—set up the climactic showdown with Suárez.
Ryan Preece took third, followed by points leader William Byron in fourth and Ross Chastain in fifth, aided by tire strategy. Hendrick Motorsports placed four drivers in the top 10: Byron, Alex Bowman (seventh), Larson (ninth), and Chase Elliott (tenth). Austin Cindric finished sixth, with AJ Allmendinger eighth.
The race saw its share of chaos. Pit road miscues plagued several teams, including loose wheels from Chase Briscoe and Kyle Busch. Briscoe recovered to 17th, while Busch finished 33rd. Christopher Bell, aiming for a fourth straight Cup win, started at the rear due to a throttle body change and suffered a loose wheel penalty on Lap 107, dropping him to 27th by Stage 2’s end. “It was a grind today for sure,” Bell said. “We just didn’t get a handle on the balance.” He finished 12th.
Berry’s 18 laps led paled next to Larson’s 61 and Cindric’s 47, but his late-race execution proved decisive. The victory underscored Wood Brothers Racing’s resurgence, building on a legacy that began in 1950, according to NASCAR records.
